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⬅AnMITstudentstartsafile-hostingservicecalled
Dropbox,makingcloudstorageacommodityforthe
firsttime.Elsewhere, 10 millioncomputersarebody-
snatchedbytheStormBotnetandforcedintoslavery
forpurposestooscarytoimagine.
➡OnlineretailerAmazonreleasestheKindle
reader,withwirelessaccessfordownloading
electronic books. Soon, anyone capable of
stringing asentencetogether believes their
efforts are worthy of publication.
TheAppleiMacisathingofbeauty,crafted
fromaluminiumandglass,witheverythinginside
asingleunit:processor,widescreenmonitor,
audio,videocamera,andtotalconnectivity.
Costingfrom£799to£1, 459 ,it
sets the benchmark forstyle and
performance at speeds up to 2.8GHz. Suddenly all
those other computers sulking under desks and
getting hot and bothered in their gloomy coffins
seem very old-fashioned indeed.
⬅And Apple bucks the trend yet again by wrapping
abrand new concept in adesignerpackage and
charging toomuchfor it, as SteveJobs announces
the iPhone.The UK cost is an extortionate£899,
yet it makes headline news as punters queue round
the block. The age of the app is upon us.
➡The brand new Grindr social
network is afacility formen with
similar interests to locateone another
as fast as possible and exchange tips.
Crowdfunding is another new
buzzword, as the Kickstarter service
gets under wayfor people who don’t like banks, and
vice versa. Whereas the brand new WhatsApp network
is across-platform messaging service forpeoplewho
don’t like an one.
⬅AdigitalcurrencycalledBitcoinappears,
withoutanyadministrators,repositories
or intermediaries, making it beyond the
reach of governments and taxation.
CompuServe,once the first
mercialonline service,is
finallyputoutofourmisery.
Andanaloguetelevisionsignals begin
tobeshutdownaswemoveto
high-definition broadcasting.
➡The true purpose of
computing is revealed at
last, as uncountable
millions playAngry Birds,
ajolly game in which
birdsare angry.
ComputerShoppercelebrates its 20th birthdaywith DVDs on our covers.
Our News digest is aone-stop shop for in-depth stories, What’s New is the
UK’s ultimateresource forreviews and ratings, our Labs test reports are
second to none,our Helpfiles deliver us from evil, the Learn section is an
essential service,our Features are still as eclectic and intriguing as ever,and
the Favourites are exactly that. At least 40 members of staff and 20 freelance
contributors deliver the goods, based around our new Mission Control on the
fifthfloor in Cleveland Street, topped by Regents Park and tailed by Soho.
Apple introduces its firstultra notebook: alight, thin laptop with high-
capacity battery.The Air incorporates many of the technologies associated with
Apple’s MacBook line of laptops, including an integrated camera and Wi-Fi
capabilities. To reduce itssize, the traditional hard drive is replaced with a
solid-statedisk,the first mass-market computer to do so.
⬅The world’s firstcommercial bionic hand is
delivered by Touch Bionics, with each finger
powered by its own motor.Elsewhere,Sanyo’s
Xacti is an all-in-one digital and video camera that
can be held in one hand. It uses SD cards, so we
don’t have to lug tapes around or worry that we’ll
run out of internal memory.
Thefirstall-roboticsurgeryisperformedat
Montreal General Hospital in Canada. Elsewhere,at
acostofmore than £5,000, Roxxy is the first sex
robot with acustomisablepersonality,including the
much loved Sarah Palin.
➡Siri makes her debut as avoice-activated virtual
personal assistant, able to answer questions, make
recommendations and perform actions within the
Apple environment. Apple also
announces its high-definition
Retina display, boasting it has
so many pixels packed together
that ahuman eyecannot see
the joins. But the biggest Apple
launch of the year is a
handheld device called the
iPad. It has no specific
purpose,but that doesn’t
seem to stop anyone with
between £429 and £599 to
spare from wanting one.
ISSUE 395|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JANUARY2021
